Lost Girl
by pseudome2
Summary: The story of what happened to Gobber's long lost daughter who was taken in a dragon raid when she was just a child and returns shroud in mystery. First fanfic or writing of any kind so any constructive criticism is more than welcome. Feedback means more chapters. Hiccup/OC
1. Chapter 1

"Gobber, we need you out here. Now!"

Gobber turned from the small form in the corner of the room to see Stoic standing in the forge window, hammer in hand and his eyes grave, flickering with the light from the raised fires set. His friend looked worn, it was early morning and the village was experiencing the worst bout of raids that it had in years. Almost every night for the last month the village had been bombarded by dragons in numbers nobody knew existed. Stocks of food and supplies were dangerously low; they would be lucky to all make it through this winter.

"Leave her. We all have to make sacrifices for the village! She'll be fine"

It had been almost a year since Stoic had become chief but Gobber still wasn't accustomed to orders coming from his friend and he could see how chiefdom had aged the young man. When the great Chief Oswald had died, nobody thought that his young, burly son was ready for such a responsibility, what with his own child being so small and the recent loss of his wife, but he had proved them wrong when he single-handedly led the village though one of its most prolific summers in the three hundred years of vikings on berk. Stoic was celebrated by his village and held in the greatest respect. But everything had started to change when the dragons started to raid more and more, in numbers no chief could have been prepared for. Almost every night now was set ablaze by the onslaught of hundreds of dragons raining down on the island destroying homes and stealing all that they could. Many warriors had died trying to protect the village but it wasn't enough to prevent the beasts from taking their fill. Lack of food and livestock on Berk caused concern at the best of times, but the village was days away from the first snow of the winter when food gathering would be near impossible.

Gobber looked away from his tired chief to the small girl sat clutching a tie around her neck. Her head was down, her eyes clenched shut and Gobber could feel her squeezing his hand with her own. Did Stoic realise what he was asking him to do? Looking back at his friend he knew that he did. It was the same thing he had done every raid since Valka's passing. Gobber pictured his boy now, sat underneath the table of the chief's house holding on to the leg, listening to the screams and deafening roars that accompanied an attack. No six year old should have to face that alone, without a parent nearby to tell them it all would be ok. But Gobber knew that this time, his friend needed him to stand by his side to help him protect their home. Gobber nodded at Stoic in compliance and looked back to his daughter.

"I'll see you out there" Stoic muttered with a slight nod back

Gobber cupped the girls chin and gently lifted her face up until she was looking at him straight in the eye. They were blue, like his own, and sparkled with the threat of tears.

"Malie, look, I've got to go out and help protect the village for a while. What I need-"

As Gobber tried to rise from his kneeled position, he was stopped by small hands clasping onto his good leg, pulling him back.

"No, please don't leave me, I'll come with you, I can help!"

She ran over to the table and started to reach up on the tips of her toes to reach the small dagger resting on the edge.

"No, I need you to stay in here ok, and look after the forge, can you do that for me?" Gobber argued as he lifted her up and placed her on a bench at the back of the small room pulling her small winter cape around her.

Malie nodded.

"Stay right here and stay quiet," Gobber placed a finger over his lips causing the girl to mirror his actions.

I'll be back as soon as I can" Gobber explained as he kissed her on the forehead and enveloped her in a hug.

He stood up and grabbed an axe from one of the higher shelves in the forge. He looked back at the little girl and saw her big eyes watching him.

"I'll be back," he repeated before walking out into the battle.


	2. Chapter 2

Second chapter ready! I was genuinely surprised by the good reviews and number of follows that the first chapter managed to get as this is my first fanfic. Still! Any critique is welcome, I WANT TO GET BETTER! I have a whole story planned out for this fic. It's a sort of drama/romance/comedy kind of thing and I really hope that I manage it! Anyway, enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think.

Running out into the village centre Gobber wasn't surprised to see half of the village's buildings on fire, plumes of smoke rising up and blocking out the stars. Looking upward, he saw a couple of monstrous nightmares flying overhead carrying nets filled with sheep. There goes the last of the herd, he thought as he continued down through the village.

Charging through the vikings and dragons, Gobber headed down in the direction of the docks to reach the yak fields, taking down a couple of gronkles on his way. Here, Stoick and few other men were battling several nadders in an attempt to protect what remained of the herd. With his hammer, Stoick dealt a mighty blow to one of the nadders heads causing it to shriek in pain and erect its spines. The nadder retaliated by sweeping its thick, spikey tail around causing the chief to dive to the ground to prevent himself from being impaled. The nadder shrieked as it stood over him, wings spread, threatening to deal the last blow. Running toward his friend, Gobber saw the green gas accumulating at the back of the beasts' throat and drew his axe in time to hook the dragon's mouth and change the course of its blast. He felt the heat of the fire as the dragon scorched the ground just shy of Stoick's face. He continued by drawing back his axe and striking the dragons mouth, causing its teeth to break under the force. Whimpering, the nadder retreated and took off into the night.

"Oh, so you decided to start the party without me?" Gobber jested as he held out an arm to heave his chief to his feet.

"Believe me Gobber, this is no party, I've never seen anything like this," He replied bleakly looking up the hill to the burning village.

"What do you mean?" Gobber asked looking at his friend.

"There are dragons here that we've never seen before. We don't know how to bring them down,"

Joining Stoick in looking up at the warring village, Gobber saw what his friend was talking about. Here he could see several dragons that were unlike anything he had ever encountered. Every dragon they knew of was described in the book of dragons, but these, these were creatures that resembled no diagram, no description anywhere within its pages.

"What are they?" Gobber asked, confused. Why had these dragons never shown themselves before?

"I don't know, but we need to get them away from the village,"

Gobber nodded and after Stoick had instructed some of the men to get the yak into the stables, the two began to head back up to the centre of the village.

All that Gobber could think of was the little girl waiting for him back at the forge. He could picture her now, trembling in fear, clinging to her necklace. Often, whilst she watched him working in the forge she would declare that she was going to be the best dragon killer Berk had ever seen. Gobber didn't doubt it for a second. She was brave and strong and he knew that she would give even the Hofferson's girl a run for her money when it came to ferocity. For the moment though, she was still just a child and like any other, she was scared of the turmoil and the disaster that dragon attacks bought with them.

"I'm going to head to the catapults, stay here and make sure the dragons stay away from the food stores," Stoick ordered as the two reached the edge of town. Gobber nodded and ran back into the town to find total chaos. There were dragons here that he had never seen before. A short-necked version of a zippleback with 4 heads instead of two was taking on four vikings and winning, picking them up in their mouths and throwing them several feet in the air before they slammed back into the ground. Several smaller dragons about the size of terrors were zipping about the square at speeds he didn't know dragons could reach and a long necked, long legged dragon, pinkish in colouring with a severe grey stripe down its side and piercing white eyes was being forced into a corner by a group of viking men and women. Gobber watched as these vikings began moving toward the dragon to attack but before they were close enough, the dragon suddenly erupted into flame, the same way a monstrous nightmare would. Odin almighty, not another one of these, Gobber thought. He charged toward the dragon, axe raised, to help.

The fiery dragon began to attack the surrounding vikings with incredible speed and agility for a dragon so large. Using its wings as weapons it slammed several vikings into the surround buildings. The rest of them it attacked using fire. From its mouth it produced flames that remained suspended in the air stopping any viking from getting too close. This was unlike anything Gobber had ever seen. As he reached the dragon he ducked and slid beneath the suspended fire and rose using his momentum to smash his axe into the side of the dragon shoving it to one side.

"That did it" Gobber announced, as he realised that he had sent the dragon into a rage. The flames encasing its body grew hotter as the dragon reared onto its hind legs and spread its wings. He took several steps back as the dragon came back to stand on its four legs. Several other vikings came to help but the dragon ignored them as it growled, staring Gobber straight in the eye. It then proceeded to send out a colossal blast of fire from its mouth. Gobber dove to the side to prevent being burnt alive but the fire continued and set alight one of the surrounding buildings. Gobber knew that dragons as a species were cruel but within this dragon he saw something else, it was as if it had come straight from hel.

"Alright. BITE ME!" He taunted as the dragon reared again for another attack. Once again Gobber managed to evade it by diving away from the pillar of fire coming towards him. Their battle quickly became more elaborate, ignoring any other viking in its path, this new dragon followed Gobber as he lead the beast to the centre of town. It scaled buildings and scrambled over carts and wells in its hunt for Gobber.

The sun was starting to rise as the battling pair reached the top most part of the village where his forge was. Most dragons were beginning to leave with their haul and the pinkening sky was littered with the silhouettes of dragons. Their battle however, was not over. With his axe, Gobber continued to slash the dragon whenever he got close enough. The beast retaliated with blasts of fire, all of which were dodged by the one-legged viking. Many of the buildings around him were now engulfed in flames.

Gobber was suddenly distracted by a high pitched scream coming from the entrance to the forge. It was Malie. The building behind her was ablaze and she had run out into the square to escape the fire. Gobber could see that her face and clothes were covered in soot.

"Malie, run, get awa-" Gobber began to yell however this moment of distraction was all that the dragon needed as it sent yet another blast of fire in Gobber's direction. This time, he wasn't so lucky and didn't manage to dodge it in time. Instead the force of the blast sent him barrelling to the building behind him, his large form smashing through the wooden slats of the building. As his mind came back into focus, he tried to get up, but realised that his wooden leg had been burnt away and was now non-existent. He crawled out of the gap in the building to see the dragon approaching his daughter.

"No!" He screamed as he looked from Malie to the dragon. Screeching overhead from one of the dragons leaving the island caused the beast to look up into the sky at the rest of the raiding group. Malie was frozen in fear, looking up at the dragon towering above her and Gobber could see her knuckles were white from clinging to her necklace. He got up and began to hobble towards the dragon but was too late. After giving him one last cold stare, the dragon spread its wings and began to ascend into the morning sky and as it did, grabbed the small girl in his talons and lifted her with it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Next chapter is here! Took longer than I thought, sorry about that but it's nice and long. Thanks for all the reviews and follows, it amazes me that so many people are taking an interest in my little hobby. Like always, let me know what you think of this in the reviews! **

* * *

-15 years later-

"Nice one bud," Hiccup called out as he sat up straight in his saddle, "I'd say that's a new record!" the pair were experimenting with the speed at which they could fly in and out between the sea stacks at the edge of the island. Toothless replied enthusiastically with a plasma blast into the sky that exploded and cascaded down into the water below. His rider smiled; the relationship between young man and dragon was stronger than ever five years since their first encounter and these days the two flew around the island as a blur of black and red almost constantly. Hiccup lay back and looked up at the sky, the sun was just rising but the stars were still shining weakly. It was unusually clear for this time of year what with winter only a couple of months away and Hiccup and Toothless were making the most of it, flying whenever they could.

Sighing, Hiccup's thoughts returned to his responsibilities in the village. Later this morning he had his first 'chiefing lessons' which he was not looking forward to. They were to consist primarily of following his father on his rounds through the village and although Stoick seemed excited at the idea of passing on the duty of leading the village to his son, Hiccup was not so sure, as chiefing meant less time for the academy and exploring new lands with Toothless. Hiccup signed again as the pair continued to glide close to the choppy water and crossed his arm over his eyes. Lately he had been bombarded with constant reminders of the responsibility he had to the village as the chiefs son, not only from Stoick but from the entire village. It still nagged in the young man's mind though that he wasn't right for the job, let alone ready for it. After all he was Hiccup, the boy who had spent so many years tripping and bumbling through viking life, never doing anything right, always in the wrong place at the wrong time. Defeating the red death and beginning the truce with the dragons had lulled the whole of Berk into thinking that he had the makings of a chief in him and sure he had the dragon academy but he still had trouble leading a handful of teens. The twins were always getting into trouble and Snotlout was still, well, Snotlout.

"Hmm, suppose there's going to be less of this when I become chief," Hiccup thought aloud as he sat up in his saddle again. Toothless responded with a sombre growl. "Don't worry bud," he said scratching the top of the dragon's head, "we've got a long time till that day comes," Hiccup looked up again at the horizon and the vast expanse of water in front of them and thought about how much there was to do out there, so much he had never seen or experienced "Come on, we'd better head back to Berk, I guess my dad will be awake by now," and with an adjustment of his prosthetic in Toothless' harness the two turned around and flew back towards the island.

Back on Berk, the pair landed just outside the Chief's house. The building was covered in a thin frost causing it to shimmer in the morning sun. Hiccup dismounted Toothless and gave him a quick scratch behind his ear then went to the food store behind the house to fetch a couple of cod for breakfast. As Toothless tucked in Hiccup looked down the hill at the rest of Berk and saw the village beginning to wake up. Several women were already dragging baskets of washing toward the stream and the men could be seen heading towards the docks for a day of fishing, a couple of terrors following, hoping to blag a free meal. Berk was so peaceful, maybe chiefing wouldn't be so bad.

"Hiccup!" Hiccup jumped and turned to see a flustered looking Fishlegs coming out of the mead hall trying to wave whilst carrying armfuls of paper scrolls. Following him was Meatlug who lazily hovered behind, a few more papers dangling from her mouth.

"Oh, hey there Fishlegs, what were you doing in there? And what's with all the paper?" Hiccup asked. Fishlegs trotted over to him red-faced and out of breath dropping several papers as he went.

"Oh Gods, I've been looking for it everywhere! I had it! It was in my hands, I put it back. I must have put it back, oh Odin what have I done with it?!" Fishlegs blurted barely taking a breath.

"Woa, woa, woa, calm down Fishlegs, what's going on?"

"The book of dragons, Hiccup, it's missing!"

"What do you mean missing?" Hiccup asked, confused. Who would take the book of dragons? It was only himself and Fishlegs who took the time to study it.

"Missing as in gone. Me and Meatlug had it last night and put it back at the academy but then when we got there this morning, it had disappeared," Fishleg exclaimed. Hiccup could see that his friend was getting seriously worked up about this.

"Fishlegs don't worry about it, I'm sure it'll turn up, somebody just probably wanted to read it," Fishlegs responded with an unconvinced eyebrow raise, "Ok, maybe not, but I'm sure we'll find it, errr, so what's with all the paper?"

"Well, now that Bork's book is gone, I was thinking we've got to start a new one," Fishlegs answered frantically, as he dropped several more scrolls.

"Erm, Fishlegs, as much as I appreciate your enthusiasm, I really thinking Bork's book will turn up," Hiccup answered as he bent down to pick up some of the scrolls, "I bet somebody's perusing as we speak, give it a day, it'll be back by tonight, and if not, we'll deal with it then," He gave Fishlegs his most convincing smile as he handed the papers back to him.

"Ok," Fishlegs sighed seemingly defeated. "Anyway, dragon training today?"

"Yea this afternoon, I've got a fun-filled morning of chiefing 1-0-1with my-"

"HICCUP!" The booming voice of the chief made both young men jump as Stoick slammed open the front door of the house. Standing forebodingly in the doorway looking down at them both, the colossal man looked displeased. Hiccup knew that Stoick didn't approve of the amount of time Hiccup spent with his dragon exploring and his early start was cold hard evidence for the chief that his morning had been spent elsewhere. Stoick would rather his son be more involved with the village and with the people he would one day have to lead. Hiccup mentally sighed as Stoick's eyes bore into his.

His gaze was then distracted by the scroll laden Fishlegs and Meatlug.

"Fishlegs? What are you doin?" The chief asked, confused.

"Ahhh, nothing Chief, just had a minor book of dragons situation but, er, it's all taken care of now," Fishlegs stuttered in reply before jumping on Meatlug "See ya later Hiccup," He said, almost apologetically, before flying off towards the academy.

Hiccup weakly raised his hand to wave his friend off.

"Okay, then son, time to get you chiefing" Stoick announced suddenly much cheerier. He truly was excited to begin teaching Hiccup about what it meant to lead Berk. He took so much pride in his village and his people, and he knew his son would make an excellent chief.

"Yea, Dad, can't wait," Hiccup replied nervously, trying to sound enthusiastic as his father came and stood beside him looking out at the took in a deep breath. "This is it, son," he continued, "Your first day as a chief,"

"Uh huh" Hiccup replied. Silence fell between the pair as the both.

The pair continued to look out at the village. Hiccup watched as vikings and dragons worked together seamlessly throughout the village. A viking without a dragon by his side was now considered abnormal. Even his father had a dragon to call his own now. Hiccup couldn't think of a more perfect match, rumblehorns were extremely territorial and not a dragon you'd want to be on the wrong side of if you cared for your life and Skullcrusher was no exception. Hiccup was suddenly distracted by toothless sliding his head beneath Hiccups hand.

"Ohhh no, no dragons today, I want this to be a classic experience," Stoick ordered. Hiccup sighed.

"Sorry bud," He spoke to Toothless scratching his nose lightly, "no dragons," he repeated. He then moved to the side of toothless and pulled a leaver in his saddle setting Toothless's tail to "solo flight" mode. This way he wouldn't need Hiccup to fly "I'll see you later" Toothless replied with a wet lick to Hiccup's face making him chuckle before Toothless set off into the sky flying up into the clouds.

"Ok Hiccup, let's go" Stoick announced.

After walking around the village with his father for several hours, Hiccup concluded that training to be a chief was just as dull as he predicted. Watching as Stoick sorted out petty arguments between vikings about fish payments and discussing battle strategies with Spitelout in the mead hall was enough to make the young man go insane.

"He could be here any day now! We need our men and dragons preparing for battle, patrolling at all hours!" Spitelout had barked as the men stood around the fire pit.

"No, Spitelout. He'll leave it till the last possible moment. When winter hits in a few weeks and only then will he attack. Need I remind you, he knows how this village works," Stoick had replied calmly whilst looking down at the maps on the table in front of him. In the flickering light of the fire Hiccup noticed, not for the first time, how his father had aged, lines had formed around his eyes that had not been there months ago. The village was expecting an attack from Alvin the Treacherous; nothing vikings on the backs of dragons couldn't handle but it wasn't the time for poor decision making. "For now, we need as many people as possible working on stores for winter," Spitelout had responded with a glare to the chief, but said nothing more on the subject. Hiccup had to admit he was impressed with how his father dealt with this particular member of the Jorgenson family. It would be nice to be able to shut Snotlout up every now and again like that. But the mundanity and responsibility being chief entailed was still enough to discourage Hiccup regardless of the perks.

As midday approached, the two were walking towards Gobber's shop to make their last stop and check on weapon supplies. With the impending attack, his mentor had been hard at work all hours to make sure the village was supplied with the best weapons. Whenever he could, Hiccup had been working with Gobber, helping him to produce gronkle iron and designing more intricate machines of war but Stoick had decided that his main priority should be ensuring that the dragons and their riders were battle-ready. Thinking back, Hiccup couldn't remember the last time he had spoken to Gobber, let alone worked with him. A couple of weeks maybe? He had seen him in the mead hall at meals a couple of times but he'd always sat alone and left before Hiccup got a chance to speak to him. Probably exhausted from the long days in the forge, thought Hiccup, he knew from his own experience that blacksmithing was both physically and mentally draining.

"So, son, what did you think so far?" Stoick asked, bringing Hiccup from his thoughts, as they walked towards the shop. Smoke could be seen pouring out the chimney and the distinctive sound of metal hitting metal heard. Hiccup could also just make out the sound of Grump, Gobber's dragon, snoring away.

"Er, yea, great. Informative," Hiccup replied looking down at his foot awkwardly, "but, erm, is this, going to take much longer just 'cause I've got to head down to the academy and sort out that book crisis,"

"Just need to talk to Gobber and Hiccup-" Stoick slowed and stopped a few feet from the shop as Hiccup continued.

"Yea, Dad?" Hiccup replied and turned to face his father, confused at his sudden change in tone. He stepped back over toward the chief who leaned over to his son and placed a hand on Hiccups shoulder and spoke quietly.

"You know that Gobber's not been himself lately," Stoick asked looking to Hiccup who nodded. "Erm, well, you see, he's sort of having an anniversary; a bad one" Stoick stuttered. A "bad anniversary", Hiccup thought, what was that supposed to mean, had somebody died? Hiccup looked at his father with a confused expression. Stoick sighed and ushered his son further away from the door of the forge.

"Look, he doesn't like talking about it and even less anybody else talking about it..." Stoick trailed off and looked away clearly debating on whether or not to tell Hiccup anything.

"What is it Dad? What's wrong with him?" Hiccup was beginning to worry, what was wrong with his mentor? Sure, nobody's really seen him in a couple of weeks but that's just because he's been working so hard, right?

"Well nothing's wrong with him, he's just...not particularly happy this time of year," Stoick answered. Hiccup could see that Stoick was becoming agitated talking about this. He'd never been the sensitive type, but clearly he was worried about his friend. Hiccup let his father continue.

"Ok, son, do you remember a girl named Malie? You and her were friends when you were young," Stoick asked as he sat down on a wooden bench a little way from the forge.

Hiccup shook his head and sat next to his father. He had no memories of anybody called Malie. Stoick sighed.

"Oooh, of course you do, little tiny thing, you used to play together," Stoick continued slightly more animated gesturing a height just above his knee. Hiccup looked at him confused. Where was this going?

"She used to terrify you," Stoick told him, now less enthusiastic and clearly displeased with his past son's lack of masculinity. Hiccup thought back, now that he mentioned it he did have distant memories of being chased by a little girl. He couldn't make out a face but had flickering images of her. He's always assumed it had just been Astrid or something.

"Yea, I kind of remember, why?" Hiccup asked, what did this little girl have to do with Gobber?

"Well, that little girl, was Gobber's daughter," Stock said calmly as he looked over his shoulder back towards the forge. Hiccup was surprised to say the least. Firstly, this must mean that Gobber had had a wife! He'd always assumed that Gobber had just never found the right woman. It wasn't uncommon on Berk for men not to be married, they outnumbered the women significantly and often young men would sail to neighbouring islands to find love and remain there. Secondly, Gobber had had a child with this woman, a daughter who had been his friend when they were young. Hiccup assumed that since she wasn't around now that she had fallen victim to a Berk winter or something before she'd had the chance to grow up.

"So what happened to her?" Hiccup asked, "Did she die?"

Stoick winced slightly at the mention of death. Only slightly and subtlety enough that most people wouldn't notice but Hiccup did. Death wasn't a topic the pair discussed often, mainly because of the possibility of it leading to discussions about Valka which were practically forbidden in the Haddock household. Stoick sighed.

"Well no, not technically," He replied.

"Not technically?" Hiccup prompted.

"She was taken in a raid by a dragon," Stoick began "It was this strange looking beast that nobody had ever seen on Berk and that hasn't been seen since. I saw it all, it lifted Malie right off her feet and flew away with her; the look on Gobber's face, it's something I'll never forget. For weeks he sailed out on his own, again and again, trying to find the island and get his daughter back, but eventually he gave up. It took a long time but Gobber started to get over it, but it still brings him down sometimes," Stoick paused "Gods, that was fifteen years ago now," he said.

Why had he never been told about this, Hiccup thought, he had never heard stores of dragons taking people before! Surely this would have been huge news to the village.

"Why does nobody know about this?" Hiccup asked.

"Gobber doesn't like to talk about it, he doesn't like people to know, I think he believes he failed as a father in some ways. Malie's mother died giving birth to her; Gobber was all she had and he'd left her that night, in the forge all alone. I'm ashamed to say I forced him into it," Stoick squeezed the bridge of his nose between his fingertips and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Woa, so did Gobber ever find any trace of her?" Hiccup asked, although he thought he already knew the answer.

"No, none," Stoick replied. Hiccup didn't reply. Something about his didn't add up. Dragons had never taken people before, never mind child. They'd always taken the largest things they could get their claws on, and now they knew why, to feed the red death. Why had the dragon taken Malie when he could have easily taken off with a full size viking to feed its queen. Maybe it had wanted her for something else.

"When was the last time he went looking?" Hiccup inquired, trying to piece this together.

"Err, about 8 years ago, give or take," Stoick replied, looking at his son, trying to figure out what he was thinking. It had been before Berk had discovered Dragon Island, Hiccup thought. It was a long shot, the longest, but maybe there was a chance the girl was still there. They knew now that dragons weren't aggressive towards humans if they didn't pose a threat to them. Maybe the dragon that had taken her just left her there. She wouldn't have been a big enough tribute for the queen and no other dragon would want anything with her.

"Dad," Hiccup asked, "do you think there's a chance that Malie is still there, on Dragon Island? I mean, who knows, she might have been able to escape, she might have been able to –" He was cut off by his father.

"Wooaa, Hiccup, do you really think a toddler could have survived for fifteen years on her own, on an island full of dragons?"

"Well, maybe, who knows, I mean we need to find out what happened to her right. Maybe if we go we'd find out what happened to her at least. It might finally give Gobber some closure even if we don't find anything,"

"No, no, no, no," Stoick answered standing up and facing his son. Standing in the way of the son, he cast a large shadow over his son. "I don't want you getting this in your head, Gobber will be fine, he just needs time," Hiccup looked up at his father and saw that he meant business. But if Gobber was unhappy and there was something he could do about it, what was stopping him?

"But Da-"

"No more, I don't want to hear anymore about this," Stoick ordered as he started to walk back toward the forge. Hiccup stood and followed behind his father "Gobber wouldn't have wanted me to tell you any of this but it's important that a chief knows about his villagers. The more information he has, the more wisely he can act," Of course, Hiccup thought, it's all about being chief. He rolled his eyes but said nothing as he and Stoick approached the open door of the forge.

Inside they were greeted by Grump who came over and lazily licked Hiccup's face who before he curled up in the corner and started to snore.

"Where do you think he is?" Hiccup asked his father as they entered the blacksmith through the large door. The building consisted of four rooms on this floor. The first was the main area where Hiccup and Gobber did all of their work. It had a large door in the front of the shop where customers would approach and a window in one side where Gobber would have once dealt weapons from during a raid. In here, weapons and tools littered the walls and in the centre was a large stone table with bellows attached to one side. In the middle of the table were brightly lit coals with a piece of red hot iron laying across them. Clearly they had only just missed him. The other rooms on this level were the weapons store, Hiccups work room (which was really just a storage cupboard he had received when he first became Gobber's apprentice) and another small room with a trap door and stairs in the ceiling which lead to the first floor where Gobber lived.

"GOBBER?" Stoick suddenly boomed, causing Hiccup to jump. There was no reply for a couple of seconds but the two heard a creak coming from the floor above. Looking at his father, Hiccup pointed to the ceiling and Stoick nodded. Stoick continued past the slumbering Grump, careful not to trip over his bulbous tail and made his way over to the trap door room. Hiccup remained in the forge and began looking at what Gobber had been making. He noticed some new maces hanging from a wall that Gobber had mentioned he'd been working on a few weeks back and walked over to them then began lifting them in turn to test their weight. Not his best work, Hiccup thought, the balance was off and the weight of it would have made it impossible to use in battle. Hiccup placed the mace he was holding back on the wall and looked through a doorway at his father to find him looking up into the trapdoor.

"Gobber, I'm here to talk weapons?" Stoick loudly spoke from the base of the stairs as he looked up into the room above.

"Stoick?" Hiccup heard Gobber reply, "oh, of course the weapons...I thought you were here to talk about, er ,well, something else," Hiccup watched as Gobber made his way down the wooden ladder. He was impressed and almost jealous of the agility the older man had even with his peg leg, Hiccup supposed that after that many years without a leg, he was bound to have adjusted to it. Hiccup looked down at his own prosthetic and twisted his leg to examine it better.

"Did you manage to get that squeak to stop?" Gobber asked Hiccup as he looked up to see Gobber and his father re-entering the forge. Hiccup noticed a difference in Gobber immediately. He was less animated than usual and his tone more sombre. He looked tired and as if he'd even lost some weight. Clearly he hadn't been getting on too well. Hiccup smiled at his mentor.

"Yea, tried that fish oil like you said, worked a charm," he replied calmly, the tone of empathy, obvious. Gobber replied with a weak smile.

"So, how are those weapons coming along Gobber," Stoick asked enthusiastically placing a hand on Gobber's shoulder as he came and stood beside him facing Hiccup before leading him around toward the store room. As he turned away Stoick glared at Hiccup, silently telling him to 'act normal'. But this wasn't the normal cheery Gobber that Hiccup was used to. Inwardly Hiccup scolded himself for not noticing this sooner.

"I bet we've about got enough now. Alvin won't stand a chance when he attacks," Stoick continued and then let out his characteristic booming laugh. This wasn't right, Hiccup thought to himself, acting as if nothing was wrong. Gobber and Stoick walked away from Hiccup toward the store room chatting weapons before Hiccup called out.

"Gobber!" The two older men turned at the same time to look at Hiccup. The look his father gave him...Odin he was going to pay for this later but he needed to talk to Gobber about this. Hiccup began walking over to his mentor and as he did, spoke.

"Gobber," he repeated, "Dad told me about Malie,"

"Hiccup!" his father hissed in response. Gobber looked like he'd been slapped in the face.  
"What?" he said weakly, clearly mentally winded by the mention of his daughter.

"He told me how she was taken by a dragon but Gobber I think we might be able to find out what happened to her, I mean, now we know that dragons don't attack humans who knows she might still be out there somewhere," He tactically left out the part where she might not have been eaten by a giant dragon for fear it might present the wrong tone.

"What?" Gobber repeated with slightly more volume turning to look at Stoick who was standing in the doorway to the weapons room with a guilty look on his face.

" Well, I just thought, maybe we could take Toothless and Grump and go and see if we could find out what happened to her, I mean, you don't know..." as Hiccup spoke Gobber turned to face him and clearly the man wasn't happy. His face had turned red and his forehead became creased as he scowled in Hiccups direction.

"No, this is exactly what I didn't want, Stoick, just leave me alone, I'm fine," Gobber spoke loudly in a tone that reminded Hiccup of being young, when he had been frequently lectured by the him about his inadequacy when it came to 'traditional blacksmithing methods'. Gobber turned around to grab Stoick by the arm and pull him towards the door grabbing Hiccup as well as he stormed pass.

"You'll have your weapons Stoick," Gobber almost yelled as he began to close the large front doors of the forge, "don't worry about that, just leave me alone," one the final syllable he slammed the door in the two men's faces.

"Urgghh, Hiccup," Stoick moaned as he turned and began walking in the direction of the mean hall away from his son "why? Why is it you always do exactly the opposite of what I say," Stoick stormed ahead of Hiccup who tried to follow before tripping over his prosthetic causing him to nearly fall.

"Baah, dam leg," he cursed before running to catch up with his father "Look, Dad, I couldn't say nothing, didn't you see him? He looked awful,"

"I know how he looked Hiccup," Stoick yelled at Hiccup as they approached their home, "I've seen the way he looked every year for fifteen years! The best thing we can do is let him deal with it, in his own time," He opened the door and walked in, Hiccup following closely behind.

"Even though you know there's a chance she could still be on that island?" Hiccup questioned "We need to go there and find out what happened" Stoick stopped and turned to face his son. His fingertips had returned to the bridge and his eyes were shut.

"Hiccup, that girl is not on Dragon Island, there's no way she survived all those years alone, it's impossible!" He spoke matter of factly.

"No. It's not, the dragons wouldn't have hurt her, they might have even helped her!" Hiccup argued.

"HICCUP!" Stoick shouted again, opening his eyes wide and slamming his giant hand down on the table next to them causing it to creak "have you learned nothing? A chief needs to make decisions based on the best interest of the village and the people in it. Going to Dragon Island and finding nothing, or worse finding the girl dead will only destroy Gobber even more! I don't want to hear any more about this, this is the end of it," He finished turning away and moving towards his bear skin covered chair where he sat and sighed loudly.

"But Gobber –" Hiccup began to press his point.

"THE END OF IT!" Stoick repeated loudly. Hiccup turned and quickly walked back out through the open door of the house before slamming it behind him. A heavy feeling of nostalgia washed over him, he hadn't fought with his father like that in a very long time. But how could he be so foolish! Clearly his method of letting Gobber 'deal with it' wasn't working. The man looked ill! Surely there had to be something he could do, even if it meant taking Toothless to Dragon Island and looking for the girl himself. His Dad had said himself, "being chief means making decisions based on the best interest of the village" and surely giving Gobber the closure that he needed was the best way to do this.

Hiccup decided then and there that he was going to make a decision on the behalf of the village. It was to be his first decided as chief-in-training. He was going to find that girl by any means necessary.

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**DUN DUN DUN! Hiccup is a badass. Hope you liked it! Next chapter we'll get to meet some of the teens and find out what Hiccup's plan is to find Malie...if she's out there at all?!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Next chapter is here! Thanks for all your interest and kind words, makes this writing thing a lot more rewarding. As always, remember to follow, favorite and review. **

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Storming down the stairs of the Haddock family house Hiccup's mind was already formulating a plan of action. He'd only need a day or so to search Dragon Island from top to bottom with Toothless, all he needed now was excuse to get there. His father would be watching him like a hawk after their little spat and doing everything in his power to stop Hiccup from trying to find out what had happened to Malie. Gobber was a mess, and if Hiccup could do anything to help his friend then he would. Finding evidence of what happened to his little girl would surely give him some sort of closure. His father had told him that Gobber travelled out to find Dragon Island again and again after his daughter was taken; surely this meant that some part of him, however small, wanted to know if she was still out there and find her if she was.

Hiccup started to walk down through the village to the academy where he would find Toothless. On days that the pair couldn't spend together the dragon would always be found there using his big green eyes to try and persuade another dragon rider to give him a fish or two. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, Hiccup thought and smiled inwardly to himself, was that really an accurate description? As Hiccup slowed his pace and began to calm down, he looked around the village. It had been five years since the dragons had become a part of Berk and so much had changed. To his right were Gothi and some of the other women laughing and joking as they scrubbed their family's clothes in huge wooden basins accompanied by a couple of scauldrons who would help keep their water nice and hot. Further along, Hiccup came across a few more vikings who were setting off on a hunting trip to another island on the back of a pack of nadders. Their dragons were loaded with empty satchels ready for the spoil. The accuracy of the nadders spines had helped Berk's hunters so much to gather meat before the winter months and they could carry loads no viking could dream of.

Walking further down the village into the plaza, Hiccups step was interrupted by a group of terrible terrors running across his path towards the dragon stables that had been built about a year after the dragons had moved in. He followed the terrors between two houses and walked toward the edge of the cliff to look down at the monstrous building. It was set off a lower level of the island and jutted out from the cliff on wooden rafters. As big as at least 20 Berkian houses, it was easily the largest building Berk had ever seen and was kept safe too, by the fire prevention methods that Hiccup himself had designed. The terrors proceeded to leap off the edge and glide down to one of the entrances. Hiccup sat down at the edge of the cliff and dangled his leg and prosthetic over the edge. From here all he could really see was the stable roof but could watch the heavy traffic of dragons flying in and out as well as the vikings on lower levels of the cliff walking in and out carrying baskets of fish and straw.

Unlike Hiccup, when the dragons had moved in not everyone on Berk had wanted one sleeping at the foot of their bed so they had needed to find somewhere to sleep besides the tops of houses (there had been several pretty serious collapses). Hiccup had the idea for the stable after he'd woken up one morning to see the village in worse shape than after a raid. He remembered back to when he proposed the project to Gobber who helped him to begin planning to create such a place. For weeks they had designed and worked so hard to make it perfect and now here it was in front of him.

Hiccup sighed. There was so much he had to thank Gobber for. If it hadn't been for the years he had spent training him, this stable surely wouldn't be here. It was unlikely that the war would have ended in the first place if Hiccup hadn't been able to create Toothless's tail. But it wasn't just that. Gobber had always been the only one to believe that Hiccup wasn't as useless as he seemed. He had taken him on as an apprentice when Hiccup was about ten after catching him sneaking into the black smith to try and use the forge to 'improve' one of his toys. Clearly he saw some sort of potential in him, something his father had never seen up to that point. It took some persuading on Gobber's part but the chief had eventually given in and allowed his son to become the black smith's apprentice. And the rest is history, Hiccup thought.

"Waaaahooooooo!" Suddenly Hiccup heard the distinct voice of Snotlout as he and Hookfang passed overhead, flying towards the academy. Dam, he was going to be late for training. Standing up slowly Hiccup looked out again at the view, thinking again that he had to do something to help Gobber; maybe tonight he'd go and talk to him again, see if he could reason with him and get him to come to Dragon Island. He watched until Hookfang was a dot in the distance then turned and started heading down to the academy.

Finally reaching the academy, Hiccup entered through the stone tunnel and walked into the ring.

Hey guys, sorry I'm –" Hiccup began only to be cut short by a hammer flying in his direction. He quickly ducked down to avoid it smashing into him and stood up again to see Tuffnut and Snotlout fighting in the middle of the arena surrounded by a circle of the other riders and their dragons who seemed to be encouraging them.

"Oh Gods," He mumbled to himself putting his hand to his face and letting out an exasperated sigh. He looked up again to see Toothless bounding over to him. Hiccup smiled weakly as the dragon give him a friendly lick across the face.

"Hey bud, good to see you too. Do you have any idea what's going on here?" he asked Toothless, giving him a scratch behind the ear with one hand and gesturing to the group of riders with the other. Toothless responded with a contented growl. Hiccup looked up again at the group of vikings in the middle and started to make his way over to them, Toothless following behind.

"Does anybody want to tell me what's going on here?" he asked as he took his place next to Fishlegs in the circle of spectators. At this point Snotlout had his hand out behind him ready to accept another hammer passed to him from Ruffnut who did so with a huge smile on her face. Across from Snotlout, Tuffnut stood holding his gronkle iron mace, his face furious. That's strange, Hiccup thought, these two were supposed to be best friends.

"From what I've gathered, I think Snotlout might have asked Ruffnut out on a date?" Fishlegs replied, not taking his eyes off of the battle. Hiccup nodded, that would make sense. Tuffnut always became extremely protective of his sister when it came to potential suitors and if anybody he didn't deem acceptable tried to 'make a move' on her they would have him and 'Macy' to deal with. It had happened a couple of times when young men had come travelling to Berk from different islands to find wives for themselves. Tuff could have them running for their boats in a matter of hours if he didn't want them near his sister; years of tormenting Ruff had given him all the practice he needed to scare people away. It was sweet, in a demented kind of way, that he looked out for her this much. But now Snotlout was the potential suitor and Hiccup assumed that for Tuffnut, this kind of behaviour was the highest form of treachery. Hiccup watched as the pair ran at each other again, their weapons smashing together producing a metallic clang that echoed around the stone walls of the arena. They both held their weapons together pushing against one another with scowls on their faces.

"Er, don't you think we should stop this?" Hiccup asked, pulling his eyes away from the two young men and look around the circle. He was slightly concerned one was going to kill the other.

"Not yet," Ruffnut replied dreamily from the other side of Hiccup holding her arm out in front of him as if to stop him interrupting "I want to see how this ends,"

"Yea, I wouldn't mind watching Snotlout get his butt kicked by someone other than me for a change," Astrid added matter-of-factly. Hiccup sighed.

"Guess it's up to us bud," He said to Toothless before gesturing towards the weapons the young men were holding. Toothless let out a plasma blast which hit the mace and hammer that Tuffnut and Snotlout were holding respectively. They flew into the air and fell back to the ground a few feet away with a loud clatter. Both fighting vikings, suddenly weapon-less jumped backwards to avoid the blast before turning to face Hiccup and Toothless.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Snotlout demanded walking towards Hiccup pointing at him, "I'm fighting for the heart of my princess," he said more softly, turning to Ruffnut, grabbing her hand kissing it.

"Oh no you're not," Tuffnut said coming up behind Snotlout and tackling him to the ground where they began wrestling again.

"Agh, how romantic," Ruffnut swooned. Hiccup saw Astrid look at Ruffnut clearly in disgust.

"You do realise that's Snotlout don't you?" She asked he friend who replied silently with a nod without taking her eyes off of Snotlout who momentarily became distracted by Ruffnut's answer leaving him open to take another punch to the face from Tuffnut re-engaging their battle. Hiccup groaned in frustration. This was exactly the sort of thing that made him certain chiefing wasn't for him. How was he supposed to delegate for the entire tribe if he couldn't even control a hormone-educed spat between two best friends. He looked to Fishlegs who shrugged and then to Toothless who just looked at him confused. Hiccup knew he'd have to bring in the big guns.

"Belch, Hookfang," He called out gaining the attention of the two dragons that belonged to the fighting duo. Toothless added an authorative bark to Hiccup's command prompting the dragons to animate and grab their respective riders by their collars lifting them away from each other and off the ground rendering them powerless.

"Look," Hiccup began approaching the pair who were dangling from the teeth of their dragons, "this is important. Alvin could be here in a few weeks and we've got to be ready. He knows that we have the dragons this time and his main priority is going to be getting them down out of the sky. Our flying has got to be infallible if we want to stand a chance beating him. So please, can we use these few weeks we have left to make sure we're ready and train as hard as we can?"

"Urgh, you're such a buzz-kill, Hiccup" Snotlout groaned crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.

"He's right," Fishlegs interjected, shuffling forwards to stand next to Hiccup, "Stoick said that Alvin is going to come sometime before the sea turns to ice. That's only a couple of months away, by the way Hiccup," he continued his voice suddenly anxious, "any word on the location of the Book of Dragons?"

"No Fishle-" Hiccup began wearily

"The Book of Dragons is missing!?" Tuffnut suddenly exclaimed from up in Belch's mouth.

"Yea," Hiccup answered confused at Tuff's sudden interest in a book. He wasn't even sure if he could read, "it went missing,"

"Aww man," Ruffnut replied from behind Hiccup, clearly disheartened, he turned around to face her and saw her face fall "that book worked great as a hammer,"

Tuffnut chortled, "Haha, yea, sure did, I can hardly remember last night, I think a part of my brain died...awesome,"

"Wait so you guys have the book?" Fishlegs asked perplexed, looking from one twin to the other.

"Oh yea, we do!" Tuffnut remembered.

"Well, there you go Legs, the mystery of the missing book has been solved," Hiccup said to Fishlegs with a hint of sarcasm.

"Anyway guys," Hiccup continued, now addressing the entire group, walking around in the middle of the circle of vikings "we need to get serious, Alvin's got an entire army he's bringing to Berk, we need to be ready, my Dad's counting on us to lead the air attack,"

"We're ready Hiccup," Astrid said seriously walking up from behind him and placing a hand on his shoulder. He was lucky to have Astrid he thought, although their young romance had fizzled out, he could still count on her when it really mattered. He smiled as her as she continued forward and stood in front of him, hand on her hip.

"So what are we doing today?" She enquired

"Erm, yea so today's training," Hiccup began as he started to pace in front of the group in front of him, Tuffnut and Snotlout still hanging from the mouths of their dragons, "is all about manoeuvring and blasting. Me and Toothless here set up some targets last night around the island for you to hit whilst flying on your dragon in places where your they won't be able to stop and aim," As he spoke Hiccup moved round to the side of Toothless, jumped into his saddle and adjusted his prosthetic and put it in place ready to take off. The other dragon riders followed suit, jumping onto their respective dragons with Tuffnut and Snotlout being flung into the air and caught by Belch and Hookfang. As Ruffnut got to the same level at the two young men on her dragon's neck, she proceeded to punch her brother in the face before blowing a kiss to Snotlout. Tuffnut grumbled, repulsed, as he readjusted his hat.

"It's important that you are all able to hit a target whilst moving as staying still leaves you open to being attacked yourselves. So let's go" Hiccup announced as he and Toothless bound back out of the arena and took off into the cloudless sky followed by the four other dragons.

Finishing up their training and heading back to the arena, Hiccup concluded that despite their rough start, the exercise had gone better than expected. He smiled to himself, proud of what they had accomplished; the group had excelled working as a team, manoeuvring like pros and blasting all the targets set out no problem. They were definitely ready for Alvin and his men. Hiccup almost became excited about telling his dad the good news before he remembered that they hadn't finished their last conversation on the best of terms. It was so easy to forget what was going on in the village below when he was flying through the skies on Toothless. The way they moved effortlessly, gliding through the clouds made him feel like he was flying himself and made it difficult to remember that a world existed beneath him.

Hiccup and Toothless led the group through the opening to the arena and landed gently on the cold stone floor. The sound of talons and tails hitting the ground accompanied them as one by one each rider settled and dismounted their dragon.

"Good work today guys, Alvin doesn't stand a chance against us," Hiccup announced to the group as he and Toothless touched the ground.

"That's right he doesn't," Tuffnut affirmed before he and Ruffnut slammed helmets together in front of their zippleback. Hiccup chuckled, he'd never understand why they did that.

"Good run for you as well today bud," He continued to compliment Toothless quietly as he took his prosthetic out of his saddle, returned it to 'walking mode' and slid off to the side. As he dismounted, Toothless promptly and playfully moved around Hiccup bumping his back and knocking him forwards slightly out of balance. He proceeded to roll onto his back and looked to Hiccup expectantly.

"Ahh, ok bud, you earned it," Hiccup responded as he bent to his knees and began rubbing the dragons belly who growled playfully. As he scratched, Hiccup looked around at his friends, petting and treating their dragons. Only now did he notice the length of their shadows. He looked up and saw that the sky was turning red; night was drawing in. They'd been training for hours. He shivered as he started to feel the cold that came with Berk's autumnal evenings, although nothing like the winter months, this cold was dry and still, almost as if it anticipated the fierce storms that were to come. He considered starting to make his journey home. What was his return to the Haddock house going to be like, he thought. Not pleasant was the short answer. His hands moving over Toothless's belly slowed and he stared out into space as he thought more about the situation. He needed to help Gobber, but his dad seemed adamant that it was a bad idea to go looking for the girl. He sighed to himself, unaware that he was being watched by a certain blonde viking.

Toothless noticed his rider's distraction and brought him back with a lick to the face. Hiccup gave a feeble chuckle and gave his dragon a final rub to the belly before standing back up keeping his eyes and hands on his dragon.

"Is everything okay, Hiccup?"

Hiccup looked up at the sound of his name to see the concerned face of Astrid standing in front of him, her brow furrowed and head tilted to one side. She was accompanied by Stormfly whose face moved quickly from side to side getting a look at Hiccup with both of her eyes. Toothless proceeded to move from beneath Hiccups hands over to the other dragon and playfully nudged her beginning a play fight.

"Errr yea, Astrid, everything's fine why wouldn't it be?" Hiccup replied quickly, rubbing his hands together and walking past her towards the stables, avoiding eye contact. He knew he was a terrible liar and there hadn't been a time yet that this girl hadn't been able to get something out of him. Astrid turned and followed him as he walked away before grabbing his left shoulder and pulling him round to face her.

"You tell me," she replied sarcastically, "I know that look Hiccup, something's bother you,"

"Nope," he retorted, turning his face and looking down at the ground, "nothing's bother me, I'm just..err...just...you know, thinking about dragons and such,"

"Oh, yea?" Astrid said, with one eye brow raised as she crossed her arms and shifted her weight onto one leg.

"Yea, it's kind of what I do," Hiccup replied his voice dripping with dishonesty. By this time a couple of the other riders had noticed the two and stopped paying so much attention to their dragons and began looking over towards the pair.

"Look Astrid, can we just drop it," Hiccup asked her, almost whispering to avoid having anybody else hear them. He backed away from her slightly, raising his hands, palms facing her. He couldn't tell them about Gobber, it wouldn't be right.

"No Hiccup, I want to know what's going on," Astrid replied confidently and to Hiccups dismay, loudly as she proceeded to walk towards him slowly. Hiccup looked to Toothless, over Astrid's shoulder, hoping to make a quick get away, but he was otherwise engaged with Stormfly.

"Errrr," Hiccup mumbled. At this point the other riders had made their way over to Hiccup and Astrid, their curiosity getting the better of them.

"Yea Hiccup what's going on?" Snotlout asked brashly, looking Hiccup straight in the eye, "Something you're not telling us?"

Oh, great, Hiccup thought, rolling his eyes, now this guy knows. By this point the group had pushed him up to the side of the arena. He could feel the cool stone wall through the fabric of his shirt.

"We want to know!" Ruffnut announced as her and her brother practically bounced on the spot in anticipation. Fishlegs stood next to them, fiddling with his hands, not asking out loud but clearing waiting for some kind of statement. Hiccup rubbed his face with his hand and sighed again. He would have to tell them, they'd not let him leave without some kind of explanation. Curse Astrid for this. They were going to find out sooner or later he thought to himself. If he went off for a day to Gods knows where without any explanation and at the consequence of a very angry looking chief, they'd know something was up.

"Look," He began, nervously rubbing his hand through his hair, "I'm not supposed to tell anybody about this, Gobber doesn't want anybody talking about it,"

"Gobber! Is this about why he's been such a total downer lately?" Tuffnut asked as he absent mindedly stuck a finger in his ear and began rooting around. Hiccup looked at him wide eyed; even Tuff had noticed his mentor's attitude lately, was he really that blind that he hadn't seen it?

"Oh, eh, yea it is actually," Hiccup replied slightly stunned. The group didn't reply, prompting Hiccup to continue.

"Well, it's sort of a, sensitive, time of the year for Gobber," He continued.

"Sensitive? Ha," Snotlout jeered, "And he calls himself a viking,"

"Coming from the guy who cried the last time Hookfang got a cold," Astrid remarked causing the whole group to snigger. Snotlout looked down at the ground and mumbled something unintelligible.

"Anyway," Hiccup paused before continuing, "I don't know if you guys knew this but Gobber had a daughter,"

All eyes were on him as the five jaws around him dropped. The bucket of fish Fishlegs had been holding fell to the ground in a clatter that filled the silence.

"W-what?!" Astrid stuttered

"Yea," Hiccup replied, "I know, big deal right?"

"Huge deal," she agreed.

Suddenly the sound of Snotlout's laugh filled the air causing the group to jump.

"Gobber had a daughter!" He jeered. Hiccup looked at him confused as he continued to laugh, bending over and slapping his thighs. The sound echoed around the walls of the arena and even the dragons were stopped; suddenly distracted from their own interactions and looked over at the young man before starting to make their way over to the group.

"Why, why, why is that funny Snotlout?" Hiccup asked frowning as Toothless came and stood next to him.

"Well can't you imagine it," Snotlout replied between bouts of laughter, he leant over Hookfang's snout and banged his fist against his nose "That face on a girls' body, haha, she would have been a sight for sure," He let out another chortle and stood up straight again, wiping a tear from his eye "Maybe it's for the best she's not around anymore, am I right?" As he spoke he elbowed Fishlegs, trying to establish some kind of camaraderie but he just stepped away awkwardly.

As Snotlout continued to laugh, Hiccup heard Astrid sigh. He looked from Snotlout over to her and caught her as she pointed to Snotlout and yelled:

"Stormfly, spines!"

The deadly nadder then proceeded to send a tail-ful of spines at Snotlout which forced him across the floor and pinned him to the stone wall instantly silencing him.

"Good girl," Astrid praised her dragon as she rubbed her on the nose before looking up at Hiccup and continuing, "anyway Hiccup, what were you saying,"

"So yea," Hiccup said, his attention returning to his story, "The reason that Gobber has been so down lately is because about his time fifteen years ago, his daughter was taken by dragons,"

"Dragons took her?" Fishlegs queried looking confused, "But that doesn't make sense. Dragons have never taken anything but sheep or yak, why would they take a person?"

"That's exactly what I'd been thinking Fishlegs," Hiccup replied, "I can't see why a dragon would take a human, let alone a child, it just doesn't add up. And on this note," he took a deep breath, let's see what his friends thought of his plan "I was thinking of taking Toothless and going to Dragon Island, see if there's any sign of what happened to her,"

"You don't think she's still alive out there somewhere do you?" Astrid asked sceptically.

"Well who knows right? Dragons have never taken people before, and we know now that they'd never harm someone unarmed, someone who wasn't a threat. Who knows what happened to Malie, maybe she's still out there," he gestured out of the gates and to the ocean beyond it.

"Hey guys!" They heard Snotlout shout from his position on the wall, "Can someone get me down?"

"I don't know Hiccup, the chances of somebody that young surviving for that long are pretty small," Fishlegs argued, all of them choosing to ignore Snotlout's request, "I don't think there would be anyone to find out there,"

"But we have to try right," Hiccup insisted, "You've all seen how Gobber's been. If there's any way we could help him..." he trailed off as he looked around from viking to viking all of them looking discouraging.

"Hiccup, I don't know if you'd do Gobber any favours leaving to go and find his long lost daughter, it might just get his hopes up and devastate him even more when you don't find anything," Astrid pointed out. Hiccup sighed. Maybe they were right, but it didn't feel ok with him to just sit and do nothing while his friend was unhappy.

"Yea and can you imagine a more miserable Gobber?" Tuffnut asked

"Erghh," Ruffnut snorted.

"Yea ok, maybe you're right," Hiccup acknowledged looking at Toothless then back to his group. The sky was now a deep blue with just a thin ring of colour between the ocean and it, night was practically here and he needed to get home.

"Just don't do anything stupid," Astrid joked, smiling weakly at him.

"Yea, ok," Hiccup replied dropping the subject, "anyway guys, good going today, same time tomorrow?"

The group arranged to meet the next day and one by one left the arena until only Hiccup and Toothless were left. Snotlout had been grabbed from the wall by Hookfang who had continued to take the boy in his mouth and flew off. The twins had returned the Book of Dragons to Fishlegs and he had put it back in place before they too left.

"You're a good person Hiccup, I know you just want to help Gobber, but sometimes things just can't be," Astrid had said from her saddle on Stormfly when the two of them were alone. Hiccup looked up to her and smiled. She really was a great friend to have.

"Yea, thanks Astrid, night" he replied before she took off and left through the tunnel.

Hiccup sighed as she left and turned to his dragon

"What do you think bud, should I just let it go?" He asked. Toothless responded with a tired purr.

"Okay bud we'll go home, I just need to-" Hiccup trailed off as he saw Toothless' ears prick up and his eyes widen.

"What is it bud?" Hiccup asked but as he did the sound of busy buzzing wings reached Hiccup's ears. Sounds like a gronkle he thought, it was probably just Fishlegs forgetting something. He turned and started to walk towards the pens to close them, locking away some of the obstacles and targets that had been used in today's training. As he finished pulling the final leaver and putting the final barricading logs in place with his back to the arena he heard the sound of a heavy dragon thumping to the ground. That didn't sound like a gronkle he thought, that sounded more like...

"Hiccup," He heard Gobber's familiar voice, "Will you help me?"

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**I loved writing the interaction between the characters in this chapter. Next chapter will be up as soon as pos! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, sorry about the delay, but here's the next chapter! I've had a few people asking me whether Valka is going to be in this story and honestly she wasn't going to feature, but I'll keep it in mind it progresses. Slightly shorter one here but I hope you enjoy anyways. **

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"Hiccup," Gobber repeated once he'd jumped down off of Grump, he was shuffling on the spot now as he looked at the young man apprehensively "Will you help me find my daughter?"

Hiccup looked at his mentor wide-eyed. Was this actually happening? After watching Gobber's reaction to just the mention of his daughter today he assumed it would be more difficult than this to get him on board. Clearly some of what he had tried to say to him had gotten through. I knew it, Hiccup thought to himself, there was a part of Gobber that still believed she was out there and that there was a possibility he could find her.

"Well?" Gobber prompted, eyes open wide in anticipation.

"Errr," Hiccup replied gathering his thoughts, "Great, I mean, yes sure, of course Gobber," as he spoke Hiccup became more and more enthusiastic, gesturing with his arms.

"Thank you, Hiccup," Gobber replied smiling at him before his face fell and he began to fiddle with the mallet appendage he had attacked to his left arm, "you really think there's a chance she could be out there?"

"I don't see why not. I mean, we know _now _that dragons don't attack people that aren't a threat and no offence Gobber, but I don't think Malie would have been able to do much damage," he answered. Gobber winced slightly as Hiccup said his daughter's name; he assumed that after years of avoiding this topic, it must have been practically taboo in his mind.

"And you don't think she...but what about the red d-" Gobber began, but was cut off by Hiccup

"I don't think the dragon who took Malie would have taken her to the red death. My dad said she was tiny," Hiccup mirrored what his father had done earlier that day and gestured a height in front of him about his waist height. Gobber walked closer to him and pushed it down a couple of inches. Gods, she had been small, Hiccup thought, it's a shame she went missing, there might have been somebody on this island who was tinier than me. "Exactly!" Hiccup exclaimed referring to the height Gobber had just mimed, "if a dragon turned up with something like that they would have been eaten themselves,"

Gobber remained silent, looking thoughtful. Hiccup moved to put one reassuring hand on the man's shoulder.

"Trust me, Gobber," he spoke

"Okay, Hiccup let's do it," He replied, his tone warming. His excitement was beginning to show. "You know," he continued as he turned away and started walking back towards his dragon, gesturing wildly as he spoke, "my family has had no trouble with dragons from day one, you know, my great, great, great grandfather was Bork the Bold himself!"

"I know Gobber," Hiccup groaned as he and Toothless began to follow him; he'd been told this story about a million times before.

"Ah well, then you know that he knew his way with the hideous beasts," He said shortly as he turned towards Toothless and looked at him through narrowed eyes. Toothless just looked back at him, wide eyed and curious.

"Ha ha, ha," Hiccup fake laughed, "okay Gobber, remember we're friends with the dragons now,"

"All I'm saying Hiccup is I'm sure that any daughter of mine would have been able to protect herself from any dragons she ran into," He continued turning away from Hiccup again and walking towards the exit of the stadium, Grump shuffling along behind him, "had she needed to," he added for Hiccup's benefit, turning and gesturing to him with eyebrows raised. Hiccup chuckled to himself, Gods, here we go, he thought.

"Even I, Gobber the Belch, have never had trouble with them," the man continued as he proceeded towards the exit of the stadium, "sure I've lost an arm and a leg, but how can you call yourself a viking if you're not missing a few limbs. Anyway, I'm still here aren't I?" He asked rhetorically "and as strong as ever,"

Hiccup and Toothless followed Gobber a few paces behind and watched the man wildly gesture as he continued his speech about the supreme vikings he was descendant from. Hiccup smiled to himself as he watched his mentor become more and more animated, it had been a while since he'd seen this side of him and Hiccup was happy he was here to help him. The sun had truly set by now and Hiccup looked up again to see a starless sky. The pair and their respective dragons walked out onto the cliff just outside of the stadium. From this spot, the ocean looked especially intimidating; black and still with nothing but the reflection of the moon, peeking out from between clouds, on its surface. The cold wind whistled past Hiccup's ears as he looked out off from their exposed perch, since the end of the war, the small spindly pathway to the stadium was seldom used; instead it was much easier and safer to fly here. Gobber quietened and looked to Hiccup again.

"So. When do we leave?" He asked brightly.

"Errm," Hiccup replied, he wasn't sure when they'd be able to leave, it would only take a day to search Dragon Island first and that was probably to the best place to start. As he thought, Hiccup remembered he had another 'Chief-training day' planned for tomorrow.

"How about we leave for Dragon Island tomorrow morning?" He asked. Gobber rubbed his bristly chin with his hand and looked down towards the ground.

"I was supposed to spend the day working on the weapon supply, but," he sighed, "I think the chief will understand. Okay, Hiccup, tomorrow morning, I'll meet you in the plaza at dawn," And with that he turned and began the process of getting onto his dragon, hooking his peg leg into a stirrup and swinging the rest of his body round.

"Uh, about my Dad, Gobber," Hiccup replied as he hopped up into his own saddle, "Probably not the best idea he knows about where we're going. He's not exactly on board with me leaving Berk for my own pleasure he's more 'Son, it's time you start taking some responsibility for Berk, you need to be here, as the future chief it's your responsibility yada yada yada'," He spoke with his best impression of his father's accent puffing out his chest and attempting 'vast' as best he could.

"Don't worry Hiccup, I won't say anything to him, we'll be back before he realises we're gone," Gobber replied reassuringly, although Hiccup was pretty confident he'd say anything to ensure they would be leaving as soon as possible. Hiccup nodded in reply and the two took off on their dragons and headed toward the village.

The journey back was silent except the slopping of the waves below them and the gentle buzzing sound of Grumps small wings. The rush of cool air blew across Hiccups face and caused him to shiver.

"Really need to start working on that armour bud, before I freeze out here," he spoke out to Toothless. His plan was to create some sort of armour for himself for when he flew with Toothless. He needed something thick to keep him warm but not too heavy as to slow them down. Normal yak leather was too bulky for a whole suit, it wouldn't work, and wool...well Hiccup didn't exactly weave or knit. At the moment he had to make do with his green flannel tunic which was slightly worn and tied with a leather string at the front, it had big loose short sleeves which we wore with his fitted pants, a leather belt and one large furry boot. On top of this he wore his riding vest not dissimilar to the first one he'd made. He'd grown out of that within a year of making it and gotten through several more as he grew. Safe to say he wasn't the scrawny fifteen year old boy he had been back then. Although still seemingly skinny compared to the monstrous men on Berk, he was now taller and leaner than anybody could have predicted. Years of blacksmithing with Gobber and riding on Toothless had toned him and given him a core strength that was uncommon in men his size.

He felt Toothless flapped his wings gently and effortlessly every now and again as they flew towards the island. It was a cold, dark night and they flew close to the ocean, but even from this angle he couldn't deny it, Berk was beautiful. Fire blazed in the mouths of the statues in the surrounding waters of Berk, statues depicting his ancestors and small lights came from the island itself, through the windows of houses and lanterns twinkling like stars. The rising island stood raged in the ocean, a collection jagged mismatched cliffs and plains which had been decorated with the wooden buildings that littered it. From the Dragon racing stands on the west to the stables on the right.

Hiccup looked over to Gobber to catch him smiling. He was pleased that he'd been able to make him so happy and excited about the prospect of finding out what happened to his daughter but a part of his mind, the part that spoke with his father's voice, kept asking, was it all going to be for nothing? The look on Gobber's face...he was so excited. But what if his Dad was right, maybe they weren't going to find any trace of Malie, maybe it was all for nothing. Even worse, they might find something that would be better left unfound. It would kill Gobber. Doubt swirled in Hiccup's mind and he began to feel sick as the pair approached the cliff side of the village and silently began to glide down over the village towards the main square. This wasn't the promise of finding just anything, it was his daughter. His daughter that had been gone for 15 years, who knows what happened to her, maybe there would be nothing to find at all, would that be better or worse?

Both riders dismounted their respective dragons as they landed in the top most part of the village.

"See you tomorrow then, Hiccup," Gobber spoke cheerfully "Got to be well rested"

"Yea, night Gobber," Hiccup replied as he and Toothless began to turn towards their home. Hopefully his dad was asleep by now and he'd missed his chance to start another yelling match with his son.

"And Hiccup," Gobber began, recapturing the young man's attention. He looked back to his mentor,"

"Yea," Hiccup prompted.

"Thank you, for everything, I don't think I'd have had the courage to do this if you hadn't said anything and, er, um," Gobber stuttered, clearly he was uncomfortable. Just like his father, and all viking men, he had a hard time expressing himself.

"Don't mention it Gobber," Hiccup cut him off, saving Gobber and himself from the awkwardness that was bound to follow, "Night,"

Gobber replied with a slight nod and turned away towards his shop.

"Come on bud," Hiccup spoke to Toothless, "let's go rest up, we've got a long day tomorrow,"

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**Ok there you go, let me know what you think. I tried to describe Hiccups outfit as best I could without giving you a huge paragraph on it. I was looking at the cover of the art of how to train your dragon 2 book to try and give me some inspiration so it's based on that really if you want to take a look at it. I'll get the next chapter out asap! **


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